As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems.
An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information.
Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated.
The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use, such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems (which may be configured as a Storage Area Network (SAN)), and networking systems.
Data storage systems may use data block storage virtualization as an avenue for storing and retrieving data. A “volume” presents a storage abstraction of individually addressable logical blocks to which data can be stored and retrieved. This virtualization layer, situated on top of the physical storage media, can provide flexibility to manage modern storage features, offload work and reduce bandwidth over the network. The volume may be thought of as a logical storage architecture.
Occasionally a volume may go offline unexpectedly. An offline event may occur due to missing pages and/or duplicate pages, which can stem from various hardware or firmware issues on the storage platform. When this issue occurs, the volume, and data stored within the volume, may not be accessible to users or applications. This leaves users unable to access their applications and/or data.
It may take a significant amount of time (e.g., hours or more) for a user to open a support request and engage proper support personnel to just start the data gathering process. Appropriate data will need to be gathered and analyzed. Depending upon the analysis, further data may be needed. A plan of action may then be provided to resolve the issues that caused the volume to go offline. The total amount of time from when a volume goes offline until it is available for use again may therefore take tens of hours, or more.